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Living in Post Truth

Armed response, gradual removal of afspa and bjp Govt in Tripura, Assam means NE has arrived into the mainstream. Integration in full swing. Only curse is the Rohingya, BD invasion in Assam and Tripura and a hostile WB Govt.

In an unprecedented move, thought to be the first time in the Naga separatist movement's history, the NSCN(K) has removed its chairman, Khango Konyak. A younger leader, Yung Aung, 45, has replaced Konyak, an Indian Naga, as the chairman of the NSCN(K). The Naga outfit has maintained that the organisation is intact and ready to give a "serious blow to the Indian Army" very soon.
Internal sources in the NSCN(K) have confirmed to THE WEEK that it was a bloodless coup within the outfit after the recent attacks by the Myanmar Army on the outfit's camp near Sagaing in Myanmar, around 30km away from the international border. The sudden attack was seen as a failure on the part of Konyak, who was not liked by the younger leaders of the NSCN(K). However, Konyak
was known to be a close confidante of one of NSCN(K)'s early leaders, the late S.S. Khaplang.
Interestingly, Aung is a Burmese Naga and also a nephew of Khaplang.
While one source confirmed that Konyak was impeached by the Naga outfit's executive body, another claimed he decided to step down voluntarily in the interest of greater Naga unity. Perhaps, Myanmar was not ready to accept an Indian Naga as chief of NSCN(K) to work on its soil.
A third source has, however, said Konyak was injured in the recent attacks by the Myanmar army and was taken to a safe shelter. Konyak was apparently being chased by the Indian Army in recent times, during series of surgical strikes by the Indian military, and perhaps has crossed over to Thailand or Malaysia or even China.
None of the sources have confirmed the whereabouts of Konyak, who was recently found in a difficult situation after religious groups in Nagaland got in touch with him and requested him to join the talks with the Central government. They argued that without NSCN(K), the Naga talks would remain inconclusive.
A senior NSCN(K) leader has confirmed the change of guard.
"But please don't ask me anything as there has been no official declaration from our side," he added.
It was believed that recently Myanmar army stepped up attacks against NSCN(K), violating a decades-old ceasefire agreement at the insistence of the Narendra Modi government.
Konyak was also chief of the United Liberation Front of South West East Asia (UNLFW), a conglomeration of more than half-dozen insurgent groups including NSCN(K), ULFA(I) and NDFB(S). Konyak reportedly did not find time to regroup the organisation as he had taken charge just a year back after demise of Khaplang.
Unlike in the past, the UNLFW this time did not make any appeal to create disturbances during Independence Day celebrations even as six groups in Manipur asked people to oppose the event. As a result, after many decades, gunshots did not resound in the northeast during Independence Day celebrations this week.
Aung is a post-graduate of political science from Imphal University and an expert in explosive management and procurement. He was trained in Bangladesh, Pakistan and China by ULFA, ISI and Chinese intelligence, respectively, in the late 1990s. A remarkable sportsman who played for his university, Aung is known to be sharp, brilliant and intelligent.
"He also took part in a polo competition in Manipur and plays the sports very well," said a member of NSCN(K).
An Indian Army officer in the northeast said, "We are keeping a close watch over the development. No information has come to us about the change of guard."
It's to be seen who would take charge of the UNLFW. Sources said Paresh Barua, the chief of ULFA, is the front runner.Source>>

Guwahati: More than 500 hardcore Ulfa-I and NDFB cadres, who are running from pillar to post for shelter in Myanmar, are said to have been approaching the security forces in separate groups to surrender and return home.

Indicating that a few senior Ulfa-I and NDFB leaders are already in touch with top police officers and working out modalities to surrender, authoritative security sources told this newspaper that condition of a large number of Ulfa-I and NDFB cadres are also stated to be very critical since Myanmar Army has launched operation and demolished Taga camp of the Indian insurgent groups in Myanmar.

It is significant that in March this year, Myanmar Army had taken over the physical control of National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) headquarters and started driving out Indian terrorists from Taga area of Myanmar.

Pointing out that a large number of Ulfa-I and NDFB cadres are roaming from village to village in Myanmar for shelter, security sources said that rainy season has made their life more difficult.

Referring the intelligence inputs, security source said that these cadres who were driven out of Taga camp, don’t have money to survive in Myanmar so some of them were reported to have been doing “manual work” to earn money. Informing that because of heavy rain, they can’t cross over the hilly terrain to enter India, security sources said that some of them have also approached their respective family members in Assam.

Admitting that Ulfa-I chief Paresh Baruah, who has been shuttling between Myanmar and Ruili town in southern China’s Yunan province, security sources said that Ulfa-I chief has been trying to dissuade his senior comrades not to surrender but many of them are reported to have defied him and left Myanmar against his wish.

Asserting that Myanmar Army has already asked all non-citizen armed cadres to leave Myanmar, security sources said that recent development in Myanmar, like the Army’s ruthless actions — killing six detainees in an operation against Rakhine rebels in western state and operation against Rohingyas, has created panic among the cadres of Indian insurgent groups.

The separatist Arakan Army (AA) fighting Myanmar troops in an intensified conflict in the coastal province of Rakhine and the neighbouring state of Chin has managed to land and bring in a huge consignment of weapons and ammunition through Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The consignment containing 500 assault rifles, 30 Universal Machine Guns, 70000 rounds of ammunition and a huge stock of grenades was brought in by sea and offloaded at the Monakhali beach not far from the coastal junction of Myanmar and Bangladesh in the third week of February.

Definite evidence has surfaced that the consignment had a trouble-free landing at the Monakhali beach near Whaikyang (Wyakuang in Burmese) on February 21 night. Nearly 150 Rakhine porters drawn from various villages of Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh and accompanied by 50 fighters of Arakan Army carried this consignment on foot and mules through Gundum and Rejupara, Uhalapalonh and Paglirara crisscrossing the very hilly border region. Skirting the Matamuhuri-Sangua wildlife sanctuary, the column skirted Singpa and reached the Arakan Army camp at Sandak(Mro) near Thanchi on March 2.

The nearest Bangladesh army camps hardly send out patrols in these hilly terrain and the cantonment of Alikadam is far away.

Bangladesh army and navy have not conducted any operation against the Arakan Army in recent years and it was not surprising that the AA consignment could be landed without an interception.

“It seems the Bangladesh forces in the area look the other way and do not disturb the AA both because it is a strong force and also because it is creating a huge problem for the Myanmarese forces that generals and admirals in Dhaka and Chittagong may not be very unhappy about,” ” one top source in Cox’s Bazar said. He was unwilling to be named for fear of harassment by security forces who resent sensitive disclosures.

Myanmar-Bangladesh relations have worsened in recent years over the Burmese pushout of nearly one million Muslim Rohingyas that Bangladesh has been forced to shelter.

So unlike the Indian army attacking AA bases in southern Mizoram and even conducting ‘Operation Sunrise’ last year in a bid to get their Kaladan Multimodal project operationalised, Bangladesh can afford to look the other way because it has no stake in Rakhine.

Another top source in Chittagong says that Bangladesh intelligence has received unconfirmed reports that the Burmese military is trying to develop close links with the former rebels of Shanti Bahini in the Chittagong Hill Tracts to use them in the area against the Arakanese and Rohingya rebels.

“Bangladesh intelligence closely follows any possible effort to revive the Shanti Bahini and they realise that in view of strong Delhi-Dhaka relations, only the Burmese could use these Buddhist tribal insurgents in future,” the source said.

After carrying the huge consignment to Sandak(Mro), the AA has smuggled the arms into Rakhine using the Parva corridor in South Mizoram here the local Khumi villagers are friendly to the insurgents.

The Assam Rifles which guards this frontier has thin deployment in the Parva area because Mizoram is a peaceful state and there is no local insurgency. So after mobilising additional troops for ‘Operation Sunrise’ in which some AA bases in South Mizoram were demolished, the Assam Rifles had to pull back most of them for deployment in other insurgency affected states of Northeast India.

Top sources in Assam Rifles confirmed that they have ‘credible reports’ of movement of an arms consignment of Arakan Army through the Parva corridor in the Mizoram-CHT-Chin trijunction in March. “But our estimates are the consignment consisted of 200 rifles and about 40000 rounds of ammunition,” a top AR official said.

It is possible that AR’s intelligence cell would have picked the smuggling of the consignment in the later stages of Arakan Army effort and missed out on the actual scale.

A top expert on Asia’s arms trafficking based in Bangkok told this writer that the Chinese state-owned ordnance company Norinco supplies non-state actors like Arakan Army using some fronts. They have done these for northeast Indian rebels in the past. The expert did not wish to be identified because of possible Chinese counter-measures resenting the disclosure.

He said TCL, a Norinco front, loaded the consignment on a ship at Heibei, a small fishing port in South China in the early part of February, even when the Corona pandemic was raging in China. A TCL manager Lin who also goes by the name of Yuthna was instrument in loading the cargo on the ship. It is not clear whether the AA has paid TCL or whether the Chinese intelligence would have organised covert payment.

The AA is said to have strong links with China since its formation in Kachin in 2009. Its spokesman Khaine Tukkha recently said “China recognises us while India does not” which explains why AA does not disturb the Chinese deep seaport at Kyaukphyu but kidnaps and badgers Indian construction workers involved in the Kaladan project.

After the consignment was carried into the Sandak (Mro) base near Thanchi, it was taken in small batches on the Thanchi-Naikhong-Farua-Parva-Paletwa route. That the AA has concentrated much strength in Paletwa which is in Chin state bordering Mizoran is perhaps because it is easier to reach arms consignments brought by sea to Paletwa rather than across the Rakhine coast where the Burmese navy is active.

One Rakhine source close to AA said that the consignment brought by AA includes “one of two” F-6 Chinese Manpads capable of shooting down helicopters, drones and combat aircraft that the Burmese army Tatmadaw is now using against the AA formations in both Rakhine and Chin. The Chinese have earlier supplied Manpads to the United Wa State Army, which is so strong that the Tatmadaw does not dare attack it.

The TCL connection has earlier figured in a successful NIA case investigating an attempt by the rebels of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland(Issam-Muivah) to bring in a huge consignment of weapons by the same Monakhali-Wyakaung route in 2010. NIA arrested NSCN ‘chief of procurement’ Anthony alias Nikkhang Shimray and secured the extradition of Chinese-Thai descent arms smuggler Willy Naruenartwanich alias Willy Narue to stand trial in India.

But under pressure from NSCN(I-M) whose negotiations with the Indian government is now in its final stages, Delhi released Shimray, who had been earlier been picked by Indian intelligence at Kathmandu airport and booked under NSA. Willy also had to be let off and the case practically closed down.

“Willy had told Thai police and then the NIA that the arms consignment for the NSCN was to start from Beihei port in South China Sea near Vietnam to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. On the high seas, the consignment was to be shifted to small fishing trawlers to reach Bangladesh, and then to the Northeast,” said a top NIA official, but again wishing to remain anonymous.

The NIA had extracted crucial information about Willy’s contacts and their bases in Bangladesh and had pushed the Bangladesh government to break the supply chain of arms for the Northeast rebel groups. Willy, of Thai-Chinese origin, was one of the four accused chargesheeted by the NIA in its case number RC-01.

The case was registered by the agency in 2010 in connection with the alleged conspiracy by NSCN (I-M) leaders Anthony Shimray, T.R. Cavlin and Hangshi Ramson, to procure arms and ammunition from China. They were, however, forced to abort their plan following Shimray’s arrest in September 2010. The other two NSCN (I-M) leaders are still absconding.

According to the NIA, a middleman introduced Shimray to Willy, who runs a spa and a restaurant in Bangkok. “Shimray told Willy he wanted to procure 1,000 firearms. Willy introduced Shimray to Yuthna, who is a representative of a Chinese firm called TCL in 2007. TCL is a front for Chinese arms manufacturing giant Norinco and through TCL they have planned to procure the arms and ammunition,” the NIA official told Easternlink when it tried to seek background information on the Chinese link with arms trafficking to Northeast India through the Bangladesh route that is now being used by the Arakan Army.

According to him, Shimray had paid $700,000 to TCL through Willy in May, 2009. He said the NIA has emails exchanged between Shimray and Willy and electronic receipts sent to Shimray for the payment.

Shimray had also paid $100,000 to shipping agent Kittichai of Intermarine Shipping Company of Bangkok.

The source said the payment was made to the Chinese firm through normal banking channels via a leading private bank’s branch in an African country.

“Willy had also allegedly helped Shimray to get an end-user certificate from Laos, which needs to be submitted to the arms manufacturing companies before the purchase and later to the shipping companies for shipment,” he said.

In April-May 1995, the Indian army had intercepted a group of Naga, Manipuri and Assamese rebels which was carrying into Northeast a huge consignment of weapons that had been landed at Wyakaung. 38 rebels were killed and 110 arrested by the 57th Division of the Indian army in “Operation Golden Bird” which this writer, then the BBC’s East-Northeast India bureau chief, had extensively reported on.

The AA rebels now seem to be using the same route inside Bangladesh (Wyakaung beach to Thanchi to Parva in Mizoram) that the northeastern rebels have used before.

NSA Ajit Doval has been at it since the past couple of years coordinating their arrest and hand-over to India by Myanmar. These are all top rung terrorists aka insurgents operating in the North East but camped in Myanmar.

These include Self-styled Capt Sanatomba Ningthoujam of UNLF, Lt Pashuram Laishram of PREPAK-PRO, Rajen Daimary, home secretary (NDFB-S) and self styled Capt Sansuma Basumatary (NDFB-S). 12 of the 22 insurgents are linked to four insurgent groups in Manipur: UNLF, PREPAK (Pro), KYKL and PLA. The remaining 10 are linked to Assam groups such as NDFB (S) and KLO.

The insurgents, wanted in Manipur and Assam, are being brought back by a special plane. The plane first makes a stopover in Manipur capital Imphal, before heading to Assam’s Guwahati.

This is the first time that the Myanmar government has acted on India’s request to hand over leaders of the northeast insurgent groups driven by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.

This is probably going to be a gamechanger in the insurgency in the North East. Last year, the Myanmar army carried out protracted operations in February and March 2019 on the basis of pin-point intel provided by India.

The Myanmar army attacked multi-group terror camps at Taga in the north of the country across the Vijaynagar salient in Arunachal Pradesh in the first phase, and decimated Arakan, Nilgiri and Haukyat camps in the second.

The 22 insurgents were caught by the Myanmar army in Sagaing Region in these operations.